Itunes help please

[Kris]

I've been wanting to watch a short film for ages. I emailed the production company and they said the film was available to buy on iTunes.

A friend of mine has itunes, so she bought it for me (I payed her the £1.99), put in on a disc for me to transfer to my pc and I can't play it. In extreme desperation I installed iTunes (which I promised myself I would never ever do again) and I STILL can't play it as my computer isn't 'authorised'. So I try and sign up and they want my card details. I didn't go any further

All this to watch a film that I've legally bought and paid for. And on top of that I now have itunes on my PC, which I really don't want as I HATE it, I'm perfectly happy with freeware (foobar, Winamp and media player home cinema classic). And I STILL can't watch the filpping film.

I am FUMING. Can anyone tell me how I can watch this film that has been legally bought and paid for? It really is no wonder that people download pirated stuff if this is the way I'm treated by that stupid horrible company.

Needless to say I'm going to be sending off a very angry letter to the production company, who obviously don't want anyone to see their film. Unfortunately it's only available from itunes.




Kris.

[webby]

You using windows Kris? What's the file extension of the video?

[Kris]

Yes, Windows XP and it's a .m4v file. I have a few freeware converters, but they reject the file. I supect it may be DRM protected as Windows media player (horrible player, but necessary sometimes) says "the file is missing Media usage rights".

[webby]

Can you open it in Quicktime?

[UV101]

I'm pretty certain it'll have DRM and only be playable on the computer that downloaded it. I've fallen foul of this with music before now and loat my temper. I must own the least used ever ipon nano!!!! I tunes lasted about 4 days!!!

You may be able to rip the video out to something else. Try DVDFab. I use it to rip DVD's to my HDD for XBMC and its prety versatile. The evaluation version is not limited at all but you can only use it for 21 days or something. you could try ripping out to avi or mpeg4. It may get round the issue.

But yes you are right apple own the world puuuuhhhhaaaarrrrrr!!!

[Beechwoods]

You'll need to get your friend to 'authorise' iTunes on your computer (under 'Store > Authorize Computer' so it can play DRM content bought under her iTunes account. You can authorise up to 5 machines to play Apple Store DRM content. I have 3 machines in my household authorised so I can have my wife's stuff playback on my laptop (which we use to sync with our Apple TV), and so we have the stuff backed up and playable on the main Desktop.

Given you've paid for the film in the first place this seems the sensible route to go down...

[Filterlab]

You'll need to get your friend to 'authorise' iTunes on your computer (under 'Store > Authorize Computer' so it can play DRM content bought under her iTunes account. You can authorise up to 5 machines to play Apple Store DRM content. I have 3 machines in my household authorised so I can have my wife's stuff playback on my laptop (which we use to sync with our Apple TV), and so we have the stuff backed up and playable on the main Desktop.

Given you've paid for the film in the first place this seems the sensible route to go down...

+1

You only need to pop in her password and it's yours to watch forever.

[Kris]

Well, you lot are right. Turns out when you buy something from Itunes, you don't buy it, you buy the right to play it on up to 5 computers. Total con. IMO.

I tried DVDfab, but no luck. . .

I emailed the production company about this and the writer and producer wrote back to say that despite the fact they don't distribute on DVD he's gonna send me a copy on DVD, providing I don't tell anyone, and providing I don't exploit his generosity.

I'm bowled over by this, it's fab news. Bye bye and good riddance itunes.

Kris.

P.s. "I must own the least used ever ipon nano!!!! I tunes lasted about 4 days!!!" have you tried installing Rockbox firmware? http://www.rockbox.org/ It'll de-apple your nano and you'll be able to play flac files etc.

[Beechwoods]

I use Rockbox on a Cowon iAudio X5L and love it. I've also used it with a 3rd Gen iPod, but the iPod battery life was pants. Rockbox is the best thing for portable digital audio. Strongly recommended, if your hardware supports it!

[DanJennings]

I use Rockbox on a Cowon iAudio X5L and love it. I've also used it with a 3rd Gen iPod, but the iPod battery life was pants. Rockbox is the best thing for portable digital audio. Strongly recommended, if your hardware supports it!

What does it do? and can I use it on an Archos 605